Living in the Spirit
August 22, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 12:1-8 

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. — Romans 12:3-5

It is a paradox but it is true, in order to be whole we need one another. Our Western culture is sometimes defensive about our interdependence. After all, we are the pull-ourselves-up from the bootstrap kind of people. Whenever I hear that phrase, I always want to ask where did you get the boots and where did you get the strap.  Truth is there are a few people who are quite accomplished at many things, but there is no one who can do everything. Even if we found our boots and strap just lying by the road, someone showed us how to use them. Someone instilled in us the gumption to do the work necessary to succeed.

If interdependence is true for society, it is even truer for the Body of Christ. Jesus prayed for us to be one just before his crucifixion. He knew how important it was to have all the talents and skills God instilled in each of us to work together in Christ to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven.

Of course, when a group of people with totally different skills and personalities get together chaos could result unless they know who the leader is and they know what the job is that needs to be accomplished. I live in the heart of tornado alley and I have been amazed at how much a group of people from several diverse churches can accomplish in clearing debris, feeding and sheltering those left without homes, and comforting the injured and those who lost loved ones. They don’t check to see if each other were immersed or sprinkled, take communion every Sunday or never, read the King James or the Common English Bible. They just do their very best to love the way Jesus loved. I am not saying those other things are not meaningful. We are very diverse in culture and education and income levels and that is actually more than OK that is what Jesus expected. We need to find the spot where we can worship and serve God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength both separately and as God calls us together. Who knows we might learn a new song we just love or share a tear with a stranger we had never met who helped us pull a living breathing child from a pile of rubble.

Prayer: Jesus, Son of God, make us whole make us one. When we are a leader help us lead, when we are followers help us follow as we go about the business of being Your Body here on earth. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.